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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Can-Do-Candles Haul - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews

Hi everyone! Back here with a couple hauls today.

First up is my very first haul from Can-Do-Candles! I first heard about this company years ago when I was into tarts but never had the chance to order. I've heard good things about this vendor recently as well so when they reopened on January 31st, I placed an order right away! Their scent list is smaller than most, but they have a lot of unique scents that I have never seen anywhere else. Can-Do uses a paraffin blend for their tarts. While it is 100% paraffin, they are softer than most paraffin wax I've used before. Donna, the owner, said that they don't need any cure time. I haven't tried any of them yet but I think I will be popping one in the warmer today. TAT on this order was very fast, I received the order 4 days after it was placed. Not too shabby!I definitely had some misses scent-wise in this order, but I went out of my comfort zone for quite a few scents so that is bound to happen. Overall, I'm quite impressed with my ordering experience with this company and I can't wait to see how these perform in my warmers!Here's what I ordered:

Raspberry Violet - This is amazing. You get notes of both the sweet raspberry and the powdery violet scent. This is the type of violet scent that almost smells like candy, so that's pretty fantastic! Definitely one of my favorites of the order.

Tiny Violets - This is the sweet, candy-like violet note without the raspberry. Again, I really like this one.

Kiwi, Sage & Ginger - This was the huge surprise of the order! Back when I was younger, Bath and Body Works had zodiac perfumes and this one smells EXACTLY like the Aquarius one! I have been searching for years and years for that perfume on eBay and I never thought I would smell this fragrance again. So crazy! It's definitely a fresh scent, but the ginger adds a bit of spicy warmth. Absolutely gorgeous. Very excited about this one.

Raspberry Tomato Leaf - This is ALL tomato leaf and no raspberry whatsoever. Super strong. I don't think I'm a fan of tomato leaf scents after all. It's a very sharp and astringent green scent that would probably give me a massive headache when melting. Yuck!

Pink Carnation - Carnations are one of my favorite flowers (yes, really!) and I'm always on the lookout for a good carnation scent. I have a really good one that I got from a perfumery in New Orleans that has a really nice spicy note to it. Sadly, this one is just a straight-up floral, with no deep, spicy notes that I was hoping for. It doesn't really smell like carnations. Sadly, not a fan of this one.

Plumeria Milk - This is a blend of plumeria flower and coconut milk. I've always loved plumeria scents and this one is just okay for me. It's pretty light, and the coconut milk scent is even lighter. I know that paraffin sometimes doesn't give a great cold throw so I'm hoping this one will be better when I melt it.

Banana Island - This is a really nice blend of bananas and some sort of unspecified greenery. So basically, a floral banana scent. Really love this one. I love banana scents and it's always nice to smell one that isn't your typical bakery banana scent. Very unique and beautiful.

Sugar Butt - The description of this is "creamy custard goodness." I would say that this is just that. A really sweet, creamy, custard-y scent. It's a really sweet vanilla without venturing into that buttercream territory. Love it!

Pomegranate - This is your typical pomegranate oil, which is actually a blend of strawberry, vanilla and a few other fruits. Fantastic, as is the case with all other pomegranate scents that smell like this. Definitely doesn't smell like a real pomegranate but I'm okay with that.

Pink Sands Type (freebie) - This is pretty much a dead-on dupe for Yankee's Pink Sands, which is a blend of citrus, florals and vanilla. It's a beachy scent without smelling like sand or sunscreen. You can't go wrong with Pink Sands, I think it may be one of the most universally liked scents in the history of Yankee.

Lessie's Coco-Mint Frost - This. Is. Phenomenal. It is a blend of creamy coconut and mint. This was the scent I was trying to duplicate last week (which, if you need a refresher, failed miserably). The coconut in this is super sweet, it is more like a vanilla marshmallow frosting coconut scent, and the mint adds a fresh burst without being too minty. Everyone needs to place an order for this ASAP. You need it in your life.

Ginger Spice Cake - This one is okay. It's a typical spicy cake scent, but it has a note that I really don't like. Even though it's not listed in the scent description, I smell a strong scent of zucchini bread in this. Not a favorite.

Home Sweet Home - This is another supposed Yankee dupe, but it didn't do it for me. I tried a dupe of this from CFTKR and that one wasn't great either. The oil that the suppliers have for this scent just isn't an exact dupe. This one is too strong and heavy on the cinnamon. I've tried this from two different vendors and it's safe to say that I will be sticking to the Yankee version from now on.

Amish Apples - This is a blend of apples and spice. All I can smell in this is the heavy scent of rancid apple juice. Do not want.

Powdered Cinnamon Donuts - This is a cinnamon donuts scent, I don't really smell any powdered sugar in this one. It is good but I tend to prefer others (such as the one from Lasting Scent Candles) where you can smell both the cinnamon and the fried dough. This one is pretty heavy on the cinnamon.

Honey Pear Cider - This is a dupe for the Scentsy scent of the same name. Very nice! HPC is a favorite from Scentsy and this one is pretty dead-on. It's just a nice, sweet pear scent with the tinest hint of spice. A perfect fall (or in my case, any time of year) fragrance.

Mimi's House - I have heard good things about this scent from a few people so I went ahead and ordered it. WARNING: THIS SMELLS LIKE KEROSENE. Terrible, horrible, awful and possibly the worst tart I've ever smelled in my life. It's supposed to be a blend of apples, spices, potpourri and wood floors. All I smell is the most awful, chemical smell ever. Maybe they meant the cleaner used on wood floors. I have heard of people referring to a "fuel" smell from some fragrances but I never quite knew what they meant. I do now. YUCK!

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Even though there were a few big misses in this order, I did enjoy the majority of what I got and I'm really excited to melt these!

10 comments:

YIKES, some of those sound downright awful! Have you tried Scentsy's Honey Pear Cider? I always wanted to, but never bought it. It sounds lovely! Pink Sands is one of my favorite scents, so I might have to order from this company soon! No cure time is a plus!

This was definitely a polarizing order, some amazing scents and some awful scents! In my mind, the amazing ones far outweigh the bad ones so I'm pleased with my order =) Yes, I've tried HPC from Scentsy, it is delish! This one smells like a dead-on dupe!

I know a lot of people love Mimi's House, I was so bummed when it didn't work for me! Maybe I got a bad batch? It was smelling up my whole tart closet, I ended up tossing it =( Coco-Mint Frost is amazing, curious to see how it is when melted!